Provost Mili hosted a reception on October 20 to honor faculty who received tenure and/or promotion during the 2022-2023 academic year. Photos of this event, as well as other events, are available on the
Office of the Provost Photo Galleries webpage.
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Lakers Ready
Division of Academic Affairs
October 2, 2023
Lakers Ready is sent by the Office of the Provost
to faculty and staff within the Division of Academic Affairs
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In this issue of Lakers Ready
- Laker to Laker: Message from the Provost
- Updates
- Empowered Education
- Lifetime of Learning
- Events
- Important Dates and Links
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Laker to Laker: Message from the Provost and
Vice Presidents Hall-Jones, Truss, and Topic
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Dear Colleagues,
The topic of this week’s newsletter is on retention, and the initiatives under way to support the success of every Laker we admit. We know that you are working very hard to support our students and your efforts are truly appreciated. This is an institutional wide effort, so this note is co-authored with Vice Presidents Jenny Hall-Jones, B. Donta Truss, and Milos Topic reflecting our strongest commitment and collaboration.
GVSU's retention rate decreased by approximately 2%, however, the persistence rate for GVSU increased by approximately 1% over last year. Multiple populations of students saw retention rates increase to include American Indian, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, non resident international, and students who identify as two or more rases.
The hurdles and challenges students can face are multiple and multi-faceted, so this layered approach guides our efforts. The figure below categorizes the efforts and initiatives by their primary target or primary agents: student, faculty and staff, curricula, and institution. In each we list a sample of the efforts. In this edition, we discuss one or two from each category with the goal that future messages will include additional information. We invite you to learn more and thank you, too, for the ways many are already engaged in this work.
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Student Care and Empowerment
We have the largest number of initiatives in this category. In addition to the university-wide efforts listed, several more are implemented within specific units and for specific student groups or that are piloted at a small scale until we establish their effectiveness.
Student Orientation & Onboarding
The onboarding of students and their families as Lakers is an important step in their journey. We have collectively been working at reviewing, assessing, and revising student orientation. Several changes were made last year; a multi-divisional committee has been formed to review the feedback from students, parents, staff, and faculty assessing everyone’s experience and outcome from this year’s orientation. This feedback and review are used to co-design the orientation and onboarding this coming year. This effort is a collaboration between Enrollment Management (EM), Student Affairs (SA), Academic Affairs (AA), and Information Technology (IT).
Financial Aid/Support: Grand Valley Pledge and Michigan Achievement Scholarship
Financial Aid plays a major role in the student success and retention of students as affordability has been mentioned as one of the biggest barriers to college completion. The Grand Valley Pledge awards full undergraduate tuition (renewable for four years) to qualified students who have a family income of less than $50,000. Additionally, the Michigan Achievement Scholarship initiated this year, provides renewable scholarships for undergraduate students who graduate from high school in Michigan with a diploma, certificate of completion, or achieved a high school equivalency certificate in 2023 or after.
Basic Needs
Students cannot learn and succeed if they have basic needs that are unmet. Basic needs include food, housing, transportation, physical and mental well-being, technology, and financial among others and GVSU already has Replenish, our Basic Needs Center. We recognize that basic needs are an ecosystem of necessities and include things beyond the range of these areas. We have formed a task force charged with exploring best practices in supporting our students’ basic needs holistically. The task force is co-led by Jessica Jennrich, Director of the Center for Women and Gender Equity, and Emily First, Assistant Dean of Students. They have identified priority areas and associated recommendations and are currently working with the respective divisions to develop an implementation plan.
Faculty and Staff Supports
Student Success Series
The Student Success Series is driven by the idea that the success of our students is a shared responsibility and shared commitment. The series is co-organized by Student Affairs, Enrollment Management, and the Pew Faculty Learning & Teaching Center in Academic Affairs. It seeks to educate GVSU faculty and staff about developments in the science of learning and motivation, share evidence-based practices from around the nation, and reflect on our progress in making every Laker find their purpose and mission and have the most positive experience.
Pew FTLC Strong Start
The Pew FTLC Strong Start Institute stems from the recognition that students are at the highest risk of dropping during their first two years and need the highest level of customized attention during the same period. The assets, expectations, and needs of incoming students have been changing; as a result, the strategies that are effective in supporting them, engaging them, and preparing them for successful studies are also changing. The Strong Start Institute is a two-day offering to inform, share resources and best practices, and form community for faculty. This was one of the recommendations that emerged from the Rapid Response Team last year.
Curricular Pathways
Ideally, every class our students take is challenging and doable. Sometimes, students find themselves in classes for which they are not yet prepared or may benefit from additional time and support. Development of various courses to support students’ learning include stretch and parachute course options.
Stretch Courses
Time of exposure and repeated practice are essential for learning skills such as mathematics, writing, and languages. To support students’ varied learning needs, faculty have “stretched” some of the courses, maintaining the same content but expending the time of learning. Instead of learning foundational content in one semester, stretch courses allow students to span the exposure and practice over two semesters (e.g., students take the sequence MTH 108 and MTH 109 over two semesters or take MTH 110 in one semester, depending on their need). These stretch courses allow students more time to engage with content as well as practice and apply skills, while receiving additional faculty instruction and support.
Parachute Courses
Faculty have also been developing parachute courses. These courses start later in the semester and are linked to specific courses required for particular majors. Under close advice from faculty and advisors, students who start in the original course but realize they are not fully prepared for it or realize they have not sufficiently engaged with the material and have fallen behind, are advised to transition to the parachute course without loss of credit and without additional financial cost. For example, students can “parachute” from CHM 115 to CHM 100. Parachute courses provide additional time that may be needed to acquire the needed skills level, or they give the students a second start and the opportunity to catch up.
Institutional Processes & Policies
Growth Mindset Communication
Research shows that a student’s perception of an institutions’ growth mindset impacts their retention and success. The perception is shaped in large part by every communication they engage in with the institution. Last spring, we brought together a multi-divisional group to inventory the pace and content of routine communication and review them for their tone, relative to growth mindset. Co-led by Danny Velez (EM) and Christine Rener (AA), this group spent the summer reading the research literature and agreeing on a common framework. Christine is now leading a subgroup with faculty focusing on academic communications, and Danny is leading a subgroup focusing on other communication to students.
Scheduling Systems & Processes
The course schedule is also an important component of student success. Last spring, we organized a university-wide two-day workshop to examine how our schedules are constructed and how the process can be improved. Bonnie Bowen led this effort with participation from all Colleges, the Registrar’s Office, Institutional Analysis, and IT. The workshop generated a set of recommendations focused on using more data analytics to adapt the offerings to what the students will need to progress, and on reducing the number of software systems, the number of steps, and the number of trial and errors in our current process.
Again, the above is a general overview of some initiatives being undertaken towards retention. We are aware that the work that each of you do is directly contributing to the retention and success of our students and that there are many other small- and large-scale efforts in every functional area of the university. This is our work together and we are all appreciative of the highly visible and the less visible contributions that you all make every single day in changing lives.
Thank you for all you do and have a great week everyone,
Jenny, Donta, Milos, Fatma
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Faculty Awards Nominations
Each February during the Faculty Awards Convocation, excellent faculty are honored for a range of accomplishments: teaching, scholarship, service to the institution and community, advancement of international education, and mentoring students. The nomination deadline for these awards is November 1. See the Office of the Provost website to learn more about the criteria and nomination processes.
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Mid-term Prep with Student Academic Success Center (SASC)
Looking for additional resources to support your students in preparing for midterms? Look no further! Students can utilize the SASC for Drop-In Coaching, check out the online resources or join the Simple Study Strategies Workshop on October 4 at 1:00 p.m., 200 Student Services Building, Allendale Campus to connect with academic success strategies needed to be prepared, confident, motivated, rested and READY for midterms.
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Partnerships between the College of Education and Community Innovation and numerous school districts across the state aim to help more people obtain advanced teaching credentials or a teaching certificate to help with the state's teacher shortage. Programs are aimed at people without a bachelor's degree and looking to earn one to become a teacher; people with a bachelor's degree looking to switch to a career in teaching; and current educators seeking additional credentials through advanced degrees. Tuition, fees and stipends are funded through the Michigan Department of Education's Future Proud Michigan Educator Grow Your Own Programs for School Staff Grant. For more details on these partnerships, see the GV Next article which describes one such partnership with the West Michigan Teacher Collaborative.
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Student Health in the Classroom
Keeping up with changing covid-related policies can be confusing. The circumstances faculty encounter as they teach classes can seem unique or generate questions without easy answers. Edward Jones II, Director of the Student Health Services, will be available via Zoom on October 5, 1:00 p.m. to answer questions and help participants understand the rules around covid in the classroom. Please RSVP to obtain the Zoom link.
Laker Club Talks featuring Dean Jackie Zhang
Jackie Zhang, Dean of the College of Health Professions, will present "The Longest Journey I Have Ever Made" on October 5, 4-5 p.m., Laker Club, Allendale Campus. Dean Zhang will share three stroies of his personal and professional journey: from patient care to population health/healthcare management, from China to the U.S., and from other public and private universities to Grand Valley State University. Please RSVP your plans to attend.
President's Forum: Honoring the Past, Shaping the Future
Join President Mantella for two upcoming events:
Universities on Fire: Higher Education in the Age of Climate Crisis
Bryan Alexander, Senior Scholar, Georgetown University
October 16, 1:30-2:30 p.m., L. William Seidman Center, Pew Grand Rapids Campus
RSVP attendance plans
Learning Engineering: The Art of Applying the Sciences of Learning to Education
Bror Saxberg, Founder, LearningForge LLC
October 25, 2-3 p.m., Alumni House, Allendale Campus
RSVP attendance plans
GVSU Quest Series: Save the Date
The first Quest Series event for 2023-2024 will be held during Homecoming Week on the topic of sustainability at GVSU. Please mark your calendar for Thursday, October 26, 1:00 p.m., Allendale Campus. An invitation with details will soon be sent.
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Important Dates and Links
Previously Shared Events
10/2 - Teaching in Honors Information Session - 4:30 p.m., Multipurpose Room, Niemeyer Learning & Living Center, Allendale Campus
10/3 - Undergraduate Research Fair - 5:00 p.m., Grand River Room, Kirkhof Center, Allendale Campus
10/5 - Student Health in the Classroom - 1:00 p.m., via Zoom
10/5 - Laker Club Talks featuring Dean Jackie Zhang - 4:00 p.m., Laker Club, Allendale Campus
10/6 & 10/7 - 48th Great Lakes History Conference - Pew Grand Rapids Campus
10/12 - GVSU Career and Internship Fair - DeVos Place Convention Center, Grand Rapids
10/12 - Author Angeline Boulley - 6:00 p.m., Kentwood Branch Library
10/14 - Chemistry at the Mall - 11:00 a.m., Woodland Mall, Kentwood, Michigan
10/16 - President's Forum - Universities on Fire: Higher Education in the Age of Climate Crisis with Bryan Alexander - 1:30 p.m., Seidman Center, Pew Grand Rapids Campus
10/17 - Study Abroad Fair - 10:00 a.m., Grand River Room, Kirkhof Center, Allendale Campus
10/25 - President's Forum - Learning Engineering: The Art of Applying the Sciences of Learning to Education with Bror Saxberg- 2:00 p.m., Alumni House, Allendale Campus
10/26 - GVSU Quest Series - 1:00 p.m., Allendale Campus
11/3 - Philosophical Reflections on ChatGPT - 3:00 p.m., BLL-110 Mackinac Hall, Allendale Campus
11/4 - Energizing Our Weekend Family Fun Event - 10:00 a.m., Allendale Campus
11/8 - Author Robin Wall Kimmerer - 11:15 a.m., Grand River Room, Kirkhof Center, Allendale Campus
Dates
Various Dates - Campus Flu Clinic Schedule
10/9-13 - Mid-term Evaluations
10/22-24 - Fall Break - no classes / University open
11/1 - Faculty Awards Nominations Deadline
11/10 - Withdraw with a "W" Deadline
11/22-26 - Thanksgiving Recess
12/9 - Commencement - 3:00 p.m., Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids
12/9-16 - Exam week
Links
Lakers Ready - repository of this weekly newsletter and a link to submit content
Laker Family Network - repository of the monthly newsletter sent by the Division of Student Affairs to GVSU parents/supporters
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